FAROE FRIDAY: SPAMVILLE?

News this week that the Faroe Islands are among the world's top ten per capita spam producers. (And we're talking about the junk email, not the canned meat.)

While the U.S. is by far the biggest overall producer of spam (21%), small island nations produce much more per head. Number one on the spam list was Pitcarin Island, a small rock in the south Pacific that's home to the descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers. Only 50 people live on the island. I seems unlikely there would be more than a dozen or so computers there, so either one of them has a bad virus, or there's a guy on a small Pacific island that has a lot of herbal Viagra he needs to unload.

Now I'd expect this kind of behavior from the descendants of criminals, but from the Faroes? It does seem a bit out of character. But the area was settled by vikings, and they can be a pretty tough bunch. Plus, I just got an unsolicited email offering great deals on whale meat, dried herring, and stuffed puffins. So maybe there is something to it.

(By the way, the other nations on the per capita spam top ten are: Niue, Tokelau, Anguilla, Monaco, Bermuda, Falkland Islands, Andorra, and Aruba. Most of them seem pretty nice.)

This week's Faroe photo is from the old town in the capitol Torshavn. Hopefully there is no spam lurking behind those turf roofed buildings.